[_4ziu]

How is banksy going to protect their work if they cannot even prove they made it? I don't even believe all the 'banksy' originals over the years came from one person, it's more likely a group.

Honestly it's frustrating to watch an anonymous entity decorate the city while still expecting people not to use their work. The way banksy has established themself as a figure would indicate they want the art to be free and open for all to use. You cannot have your cake and eat it too, which is to say you cannot be anonymous and trademark your artwork.

[celticninja]

For the same reason that Satoshi Nakamoto is likely one person and not a group, so is Banksy. too hard to keep a secret like that for as long as it has been. I'm surprised we haven't seen more people claim to be Banksy, as we have with Satoshi but perhaps it's easier to profit from pretending to be SN than it is by pretending to be Banksy.

Three may keep a Secret, if two of them are dead

[NeedMoreTea]

The system somehow allowed John le Carre and Andy McNab to protect their work and identity years before the world got to know of David Cornwell, or McNab's real ex-SAS identity. So is losing anonymity in copyright a recent innovation?

That an artist cannot have a pen name and remain anonymous seems to be a fault with the current system, not with the choice to remain anonymous.